This book is the first book of Robin Hobb’s Solider Son Trilogy, apart from Fitz’s story arc this is my second favorite series by Hobb, if you’ve been following my book reviews you will know that I’ve just finished the Live Ship Trilogy and found this really hard going, in the sense of not connecting with characters and the story. This book is the complete opposite, straight away I connected with the main characters who is Nevare Burvelle and you follow his journey to the academy where he trains to be soldier. In my opinion the themes that were explored during the story progress were religion, family, friendship, environment and believing in yourself.

For those who are asking is it worth reading after Fitz’s story arc? My answer is yes. Bear in mind that this is a stand-alone trilogy and not part of the Eldering Realm, this is actually makes a refreshing change. Hobb informs you of cultural information on the people and historical information on the landscape, which I found fascinating.

Once piece of background information which I loved was whilst following Nevare you learn that he is a Gernia and their religion is called Gernian, who believe in “firstborn noble sons are heir to the family fortunes, second sons bear swords as soldiers, and third sons are consecrated to the priesthood.” This got me thinking about today’s society and religion views, can you imagine if this was brought into the 21st Century?

I am definitely going to read book two and three in this trilogy, once I have finished Rain Wild Chronicles. What am I reading next? Currently I am reading Mr Mercedes By Stephen King, as I just felt that I wanted a change from Hobb. What’s next after Mr Mercedes? Well, I’ve decided to read Tad Williams The Dragonbone Chair: Memory, Sorrow and Thorn as he’s bringing out a new book on 5th Jan 2017 (according to Amazon) belonging to this series.

Eventually I want to read G.R.R Martin’s Game of Thrones series, considering that the Dragonbone Chair: Memory, Sorrow and Thorn is the source of inspiration to Game of Thrones, I thought William’s trilogy would be a good place to start. Then I’ll go back to Hobb’s Fitz and the Fool trilogy and read book 2 before the new third book titled Assassin’s Fate which due out in the summer of 2017.

I will review Solider Son Trilogy in full once I have read all the books.

A post shared by Elspeth (@bargundesigns) on Sep 12, 2016 at 5:12am PDT

In the above photograph I wanted to show present and future customers how I dispatch my cards, I use a bubble wrap envelope – This is being changed to cardboard rigid mailer to ensure safe transit. Along with a fragile sticker and a address label.

This is my first blog post on printing papers, I plan to do one type of printing paper per post maybe every week. Please leave comments below if you want to know more about the papers or if you have any questions regarding printing/papers and I will try to help.

Apart from reading books one of my other hobbies is printing photographs and experimenting with different types of papers, as it can give a photograph a chance of being a physical item rather that just a picture on a screen. The type of paper can also have massive effect on the final result, for example some papers don’t print black and white well, where as the same type of paper may bring out the colour and detail of that photograph. The main thing to watch out for is when looking at photographic paper is the weight of paper, usually the higher the weight of paper the better quality it is. Another tip to remember is, your printer will have a maximum printing paper weight, if the paper is higher than this it will not through the feed. I have had personnel experience with this and it can get frustrating. I also use genuine ink cartridges as they make a difference to the colour and will last longer.

The newest batch of paper I have brought is the Hahnemuhle Glossy Fine Art A4 Sample Pack which contains the following FineArt Pearl 285gsm,Photo Rag Satin 310gsm,Photo Rag Baryta 315gsm,Photo Rag Pearl 320gsm,FineArt Baryta 325gsm, Baryta FR 350gsm, Goya Cancas 340gsm. I got this pack because I was wanted to see difference between the satin and pearl papers and how they compared to glossy papers. Whilst browsing I couldn’t seem to find any high end paper for gloss it seemed that Satin and Pearl where in the trend at the time. I’m not a huge fan of glossy papers as I find the surface to reflective. I also wanted to update my printing paper catalogue as sometimes manufactures discontinue papers and bring in new ones.

A post shared by Elspeth (@bargundesigns) on Jan 15, 2016 at 2:30am PST

The photograph above and below was printed onto Fine Art Photo Rag Pearl 320gsm, the paper itself feels very thick (same thickness as heavy card) but it has a texture to it. I wasn’t to keen on photograph one it at first and decided to print another picture,when photograph two came out of the printer I just fell in love with the detail, sharpness and colour brightness of the print. Definitely be buying this paper in a stand alone pack in the future, I love bright bold colours in my photography and I think this paper will bring out the best in the colours.

These three cards have been sold and been dispatched within the Uk, it amazes me with etsy that even though it is an american site most of my sales have been within the UK and local to Manchester (uk), which makes me even happier to think my cards are nearby. I Had 4 and 5 star customer rating, so happy to receive this feedback.

Been doing lots of maintenance stuff with the etsy shop lately, such as improving the product descriptions, titles and keywords. Seems to have taken a long time doing this, but it’s been worth it as I’ve had sales (So I must doing something right)

The new cards that are currently being listed in the shop, have been printed, made and photographed in my new and improved office. I have been experimenting with different “studio” set ups around the house, the best place to take the card photographs I have found is in the office, I am luckily enough to have a massive window that pours in natural light onto the desk.

So far I love this book, in some ways I wished i’d read this after fitz’s story arc rather than reading the Liveship trilogy, as it’s a simple and light read. Whilst reading Shaman’s Crossing you get know and follow the life of Nevare who is a second born solider’s son and goes to train at the King’s Cavalla Academy. The characters are friendly and you get to know them well as the story progresses, cannot wait to see what the story has in store for me.

Shaman’s Crossing is book one part of the Solider Son Trilogy, book two is Forest Mage and book three is Renegade’s Magic.

I will do a full review once I had the full trilogy. After reading this I am aiming to finish the Rain Wild Chronicles.